LAPT8 Peru: Chilean Claudio Moya collects Main Event title

We've found a champion, a 51-year-old businessman from Chile who hasn't stopped laughing along with his supporters for the half-hour since the last hand of the Latin American Poker Tour Peru Main Event was dealt.

Meet Claudio Moya, newest LAPT champion -- winner of the tournament, and with a winner of a smile, too.

Claudio Moya - LAPT8 Main Event Champion

In our last report we were discussing the lengthy heads-up battle happening between Moya and Chadi Moustapha of Lebanon, and after we last touched base they had moved into Level 30 (50,000/100,000/10,000), pushing deep into the fourth hour of their duel.

Then came a hand in which Moustapha opened with a button raise of 300,000, Moya called, and the flop fell J♣Q♠T♦. Moya led for 600,000, and Moustapha called, then after the T♠ turn card Moya announced he was all in for the 1.9 million or so he had behind.

Moustapha sat motionless as media and staff all took a step closer to the table. A full minute passed, with no decision having been made. At last the Lebanese player called the shove, and Moya stood as he tabled his 9♦8♥ for a flopped straight. Moustapha turned over A♣A♦, meaning he had outs to hit a higher straight or a full house, but the river 7♥ wasn't one of them.

Moya's rail exploded with joy as did he, and he went over for a congratulatory hug before stacking up his chips. The hand echoed somewhat the one Moya had won to oust Patricio Rojas on the Main Event bubble yesterday in which he'd flopped a straight to crack Rojas's kings. Suddenly the Chilean was back on top with 5.25 million to Moustapha's 1.95 million, and play continued onward.

Just a few short hands later, Moustapha was down to about 1.4 million, and open-shoved from the button. Moya thought a short while before finally deciding to call.

Moustapha flipped over Q♦J♣, and Moya sprang from his seat excitedly to show his A♣4♣. His rail was shouting as well, but all grew quiet as the dealer delivered the next five cards...

7♦8♦3♠... 8♥... 2♣!

A huge roar came from all corners in response, and we looked up to see Moya's blue jacket disappearing amid embracing arms from all sides. He was able to break free to find Moustapha, and the pair shook hands and hugged, patting each other's backs as they did. It was a gallant effort by Moustapha, who came just one step shy of becoming the tour's first champion from Lebanon.

Chadi Moustapha - 2nd place

It was about 10 hours ago that we began with eight players and nary a Peruvian among them, the first time according to LAPT long-timers that a Main Event final table didn't feature any players from the host country.

The final eight

Unlike Day 3 of the tournament, a topsy-turvy day when several start-of-day short stacks thrived and the chip leaders all fell shy of making the final table, the final day began much more predictably, with the two players shortest in chips falling early as one might expect to happen.

First it was Chile's Richard Chauriye, eighth of eight to begin, found a hand worth playing in ace-king, Daniel Ramirez called his shove with pocket eights, and after the board came ten-high Chauriye's day was done.

Yesterday we marveled at the Brazilian Helio Neves spin up a stack to go from 30th of 32 to the final table. Today, however, he could only last until a sixth-place finish, calling all in on the river after Moustapha had made a flush and being forced to muck a losing hand.

*= reflects the results of a two-way deal that left $15,576 in play for the winner

Thanks for following our start-to-finish coverage of LAPT8 Peru, including the great images provided all along the way by our photographer, Carlos Monti.

There's a lot of excitement in store ahead for Season 8, with LAPT8 Uruguay happening in September 18-22, then the big Grand Final in Sao Paulo Brazil -- and the BSOP Millions -- starting in late November. See you then!